way with "The Front Page," and they sustained their success into the thirties with the stage hits "Twentieth Century" and "Jumbo." "Our friendship was founded on a mutual obsession. We were both obsessed with our youthful years," Hecht writes in his autobiogra- phy, "A Child of the Century." "For twenty-five years we assisted each other in behaving as if these pasts had never vanished We remained newspaper re- porters and continued to keep our hats on before the boss, drop ashes on the floor and disdain all practical people." Together, as Hecht writes, they "made much noise," especially in Hollywood, where they were so successful that they got a million -dollar deal to write, pro- duce, and direct movies of their own choice at the Astoria Studio, on Long Island. In 1935, Hecht and MacArthur won an Academy Award for their screenplay for "The Scoundrel." "The society of other successful people will flatten an anarchist into an amateur but- ler," Hecht writes; and "Johnny on a Spot" is proof of the attrition of a writ- ing decade devoted to the big public and big paydays. Hecht goes on about the nice-nellyism that MacArthur's play is symptomatic ot "Our talents, like our waterfalls, have all been harnessed to make life pleasanter for the Public. The iconoclastic or anti-public artist exists no more than an anti-public traction " company. Here, having learned the lessons of commerce well, MacArthur has written cameos that approximate the lovable ec- centricities of many bankable Holly- wood figures. Upjohn's face on the post- ers is, according to the stage directions, "a bit like W. C. Fields." Likewise, the party machine's proposed gubernatorial replacement for Upjohn is the dithering Doc Blossom (Michael Bryant), whose wistful fumbling is more than a little bit like Frank Morgan's. He enters with a macaw on his arm and not a political thought in his chucklehead. "Anybody want to be governor?" he asks later, as he contemplates having to give up his world-class collection of poultry for power. MacArthur spices his crazy stew with a dollop of Marx Brothers buffoon- ery in the shape of the Governor's goofy bodyguard, Pepi Pisano (Howard Ward), who speaks MacArthur's folderol with Chico's Italian delivery and a frizzy head of Harpoish hair. Against this happy face of Southern corruption MacArthur plays off a fast-talking pair of North- ern go-getters-Upjohn's slick cam- paign manager, Nicky Allen (the excel- lent Mark Strong), and the Governor's pert secretary, Julie Glynn (the appeal- ing Janie Dee). These two are punch- pressed out of the William Powell- Myma Loy smart-ass mold; they prob- ably meet cute in their dreams. Mac- Arthur, whose come-on to Helen Hayes was to offer her a handful of peanuts saying "I wish they were emeralds," and who twenty years later gave her emer- alds saying "I wish they were peanuts," had a good line in witty badinage. Even at the finale, as Nicky comes up with a scheme to forge the Governor's signa- ture and Julie tops his efforts to detour the democratic process in order to save their bacon and their marriage pros- pects, the banter has a familiar cinematic ring. When Julie sees off the bimbo who has eyes for Nicky, a Joan Blondell stand-in by the name of Barbara Webster, played by Geraldine Fitzgerald with an accent as erratic as her comic timing, she says, "There's also a sign out there that says: 'No Tramps Allowed.' Ignore it." This kind of writing has more gums than teeth. The form itself is as corrupt as the culture it purports to satirize. Its avowed goal is not to challenge the society but to win an au- dience's heart while picking its pocket. In the program Bill Hootkins is listed as taking Governor Upjohn's part. Hootkins is a damn good American ac- tor, who hails from Texas and resides in Great Britain. To a seasoned theatre- goer he is a guarantee of a humorous, high-energy, acerbic, and intelligent performance. We see a lot of Hootkins' jowly, ribald presence on posters and on projections of Upjohn cavorting with whores and sprawling in his cups in front of country hquor stores, but that's as close as Upjohn and Hootlans get to the Royal National stage. Governor Upjohn, MacArthur's central character and the man around whom the whole comic world spins, never shows up in the flesh. This breaks Rule No. 1 of farce's game: The subject of the play must appear in it. MacArthur's omission isn't so much daring as obtuse. The absence of the Governor from the proceedings saps the stage life of both high stakes and urgency. All the events that galva- nize the pols-Upjohn's drunken binge 101 L ax. 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